Draft:Chess.com Lessons

About

Chess.com lessons are a resource for people who want to get better at chess. It starts with the basic rules of chess and as it progresses it goes through phases such as the opening, middlegame and endgame.

How to Move the Pieces

Chess.com provides information on how to move chess pieces and how to set up the board.

Lesson 1: The King and the Goal

Introduction of chess

Chess, an ancient board game, originated in northern India around AD 600 and was initially based on the infantry, cavalry, elephants ad chariots of the ancient Indian army. These troops were led on to the chessboard by the king and his chief minister, the vizier. The game spread to central Asia, China, Persia, and Europe, reaching Spain by the mid-11th century. In the West, the design of chess pieces changed to reflect medieval European society, with the king remaining, pawns being foot soldiers, and the elephant replaced by the bishop. The horse became the knight, and the chariot became the rook. The vizier became the queen, and at the end of the 15th century, the queen became the most powerful piece on the chessboard. This version of chess is played worldwide today and is officially recognized by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs).

Chess is an exciting game of strategy and planning, and has the advantage of its finely differentiated playing pieces with unique power attributes. It is easy to identify with one's chess pieces - losing a game of draughts doesn't result in the same profound personal loss as when a king is checkmated.

Rules of the Game

To learn chess, you need a chess set and a friend who knows or wants to learn. Each set has two armies, one light and one dark, with a total of 32 pieces. The chessboard is the battlefield, divided into 64 squares in an 8x8 board.

Playing the Game

Chess is a game that involves checkmating your opponent's king, and once the king is in checkmate, the game ends. To start, let's meet the king. (See The King.)

The King

The king, while crucial in chess, is not the most powerful piece. It can move one square at a time and capture in the same way, but it's illegal to place the king in check.